The Cronus Cup
by sjdboom
Summary: As their senior year at Sky High nears its end, Amelia Castor and Will Stronghold find themselves forced to compete as a team in the most famous (and the most dangerous) superhero tournament ever created; The Cronus Cup. Rated M for language, mild-moderate violence, and sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

Hi to everyone and anyone reading this! I appreciate you taking the time from your life to read my work. I would just like to admit that this story, to me, seems to have elements from The Hunger Games, Goblet of Fire, and X-Men all mixed into one. But it is 100% only focused on Sky High, I pinky promise.

Also, there are going to be a lot of new characters introduced, including a new and unknown villain, but I am sure you will recognize a key few. I suppose now you're just wondering what the Cronus Cup is and why it's so dangerous, but to that I say- read on and find out! Thanks once again for checking out this story!

Love and chocolate milk,

Sarah

PS. This is my first time ever really writing in third person, so let me know if you have any suggestions or comments about that!

PPS. I do not own Sky High or any of it's characters.

* * *

**The Cronus Cup**

Amelia stood at her locker, idly drumming her fingers on the metal door and pretending to be busy. Lately she'd been having lots of senior year end-of-highschool thoughts like, "after this month, this locker will no longer be mine" and "thank God I will never have to eat a cafeteria meal again".

It gave her a strange feeling to know that she wouldn't be returning to Sky High anymore after this year; something like a mix of sadness and happiness. Most of her classmates were annoying and obsessed with themselves, sure, but she'd had some good times here, she'd made some good friends. Amelia was different than her classmates in a lot of ways, but one seemed to almost completely isolate her from most of them. And it was that she had absolutely no desire to be a "superhero". She didn't want a costume, she didn't want a sidekick, and she sure as hell did not want to save the world. She was angry enough to have the label "hero" stuck to her all throughout highschool; she certainly wasn't going to spend the rest of her life the same way. And it's not like she wanted to be a supervillain or anything. No, she just wanted to be Amelia. After Sky High, she wanted to leave the world of super-whatevers and never look back.

Amelia remembered a night many years ago when her mother was about to leave on a distress call. A supervillain named Black Fang had taken hostages on one of the trains at the Palladium station. Amelia was nine at the time when Angela Castor had tucked her in and was just turning to leave when Amelia grabbed her arm.

"Mom?" She asked. "Why do you have to go?"

Her mother smiled and placed a palm over Amelia's. "There are a lot of people counting on me."

Amelia wanted to argue. She wanted to say, "Well, I'm counting on you!"

But she stayed silent. She had tried to fight with her mom over this before, but it never worked. Angela kissed her head and used her telekinetic power to levitate a teddy bear from across the room and set it on the bed beside Amelia. "Sweet dreams, sweetheart. When you're older, Amelia, I'll explain it to you."

But she never got the chance. She died that very night. And when Amelia stood beside her father at the funeral, she silently whispered, "I'm still counting on you" as her mother was lowered into the ground.

For a few weeks after that, Amelia was forced to listen to accounts of her mother's death on the news. "Psionica lost her life in last week's showdown at the Palladium station." She _lost_ her life, they had said. As if it were a pair of keys or a wallet that had simply been misplaced and would turn up one day out of the blue. Some of the other superheroes Amelia knew, like Jetstream and Whiplash and the Commander and Frostbite, arranged a memorial service for Psionica. Supposedly hundreds of people attended. Amelia wouldn't know. She wasn't one of the attendees. To Amelia, Psionica was the person who had killed her mother. If Psionica never existed, her mother still would.

Amelia had refused to go to Sky High at first. She didn't want to set foot in the building that had helped create her mother's super-alter ego. But her father swore to her that it was one of her mother's biggest dreams to watch Amelia graduate from her alma mater. Anthony Castor worried a lot about Amelia after Angela died, so Amelia finally agreed to go to Sky High to give him peace of mind.

"Atleast there," he said, "you'll be able to develop your powers. And you'll make your mother proud."

Little did he know, Amelia hadn't used her powers more than 3 times in her entire highschool career. First, she had used it to protect herself from a falling car when she underwent "power placement". The second time was to prevent a piece of flying chocolate cake from getting in her hair during a lunch time food fight. And the third time…well, she didn't really like to think about the third time.

Even during the ridiculous "Save the Citizen" game during gym class, she always refused to use her power.

Admittedly, she felt a bit guilty about this. But she didn't want them. She didn't want to have any superpowers. Although sometimes, late at night, she'd sit in her room and practice making her forcefields. Just little tiny ones that would spark off her hands. Just enough to see if she still had her power. She tried to tell herself that she was only checking in the hopes that they'd have gone away, but if she were to ever sit and think about it long enough, she'd have to admit that she didn't want to lose that connection to her mother.

Amelia was very young when she got her power, only six years old. Much younger than all of her classmates had been. She had been climbing the big maple tree in front of her house one afternoon when she lost her footing and went crashing toward the grass from atleast fifteen feet up. She held out her hands in front of her and closed her eyes tight, but she never hit the ground. Instead, she landed against something else. It was like a white blanket of energy had caught Amelia in the air and stopped her from falling those last few inches. Amelia stared at the shimmering white blanket beneath her until seconds later when it vanished and she landed in the grass with a gentle thud.

"Amelia!" Anthony shouted as he jumped up from the porch swing and ran over to her. "Are you alright?" He asked, lifting her up onto her feet.

She was too stunned to respond. She looked up to the house and saw Angela on the porch steps, smiling down at her. It wasn't exactly the reaction you would expect from a mother after her child nearly just tumbled to her death. But Amelia smiled back, because she understood. She was special, just like her mom.

Not much later, she learned that her "white blanket" was actually a forcefield that she had created. Over the next three years before her mother died, Amelia started to learn how to use it. It was purely for defense, a way of shielding herself from any sort of danger. If something was about to hit her, it would bounce off the forcefield and be sent to the ground. Amelia found out from Coach Boomer on her first day of highschool that it worked for repelling much larger things too, such as cars.

Sometimes Amelia wondered just how far her forcefields could stretch, or how many people she could fit within one. Her mother could lift thousand pound objects with her mind for God's sake; Amelia had to assume she'd received some of that strength. But she didn't actually want to find out.

The bell for final period started to ring and Amelia snapped out of reverie. She pulled a notebook out of her locker and shut the door loudly, which elicited a sneer from her locker neighbor. Amelia fumbled her way through the crowd of people, toward her advanced mad science class. Her mind wandered until something made it snap to attention: A familiar red, white, and blue pattern located on a sleeve. That sleeve happened to be attached to a shirt, which happened to be attached to a person. And that person happened to be Will Stronghold.

He was surrounded by his usual group of friends; Zack, Magenta, Layla, and Ethan. There were a few others that Amelia didn't know names for, probably they were underclassmen.

Amelia did not particularly like Will Stronghold. She was glad, however, that her parents had been friends when they were little, because it meant she had memories of knocking Will over with her forcefields whenever he followed her around her backyard. Amelia always thought Will was annoying and she didn't understand why he thought her forcefields were so awesome, even though she continued to knock him over with them. He'd just laugh and get up, ready to be knocked down again.

Now she deduced that because he didn't have any power of his own at the time, he wanted to share in hers. Even if that meant having a bruised butt.

After her mother died, Amelia didn't see the Strongholds very often. Occasionally they came by for dinner or Amelia and her dad would join them, but that was rare. Steve and Josie Stronghold, the Commander and Jetstream, had become the most famous superheroes in the world. They were always needed somewhere. But they still sent Amelia birthday and holiday cards every year.

Maybe if Amelia and Will had been friends, she'd have gotten to see his parents more often. But that wasn't the case for two reasons. First, because they went to different elementary and middle schools and second, because Amelia still found him annoying.

They didn't really see eachother again until Sky High and even then, they kept a friendly distance, only speaking when necessary or to say hello in passing. Amelia was fine with that.

But that all changed sophomore year, on the day that Amelia used her power at school for the first time since power placement. Amelia had saved Will's life that day. Even though Will had inherited super strength and the ability to fly from his parents some time before, and had saved the entire school from Royal Pain's destruction on the night of their freshman homecoming dance, that day he looked at Amelia the way he had when they were small; like her forcefield was far greater than anything he'd ever seen before. Including, perhaps, his own reflection.

And then that Friday was the night she and Will…

But she refused to think about that_. Ever_.

Will looked up and caught her eye. Immediately, Amelia turned away from him. She stomped the rest of the way to her mad science class, wanting to put as much distance between her and William Stronghold as possible.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi, lovely readers!

Just a quick** forewarning:** this chapter contains sexual content.

* * *

Amelia took her seat in the back of the mad science lab. Her best friend Caroline Ackerman was already sitting on the stool beside her, drawing stick figures and hearts all over her notebook. Caroline had long since stopped paying attention in most of her classes. "I'm a senior, God damn it!" She would occasionally yell. "Graduation is three weeks away! Clearly I've already learned everything I need to get out of this place!"

Of course Caroline would say that, she was a straight A student. Her diploma was probably signed and sealed months ago. A lot of the other seniors were still struggling to secure their spot at graduation. Sometimes, Amelia felt like one of those struggling students.

"What's wrong, Mia?" Caroline asked as soon as Amelia's butt hit her chair. Amelia had not yet said a word to her, but Caroline always knew when something was troubling the people around her. It was part of her power. No matter how angry or upset a person was, all Caroline had to do was touch their hand or simply say "calm down", and that person would become the most relaxed, content person in the universe. Caroline could make them so calm, in fact, that she could pretty much convince them of anything. Let her borrow your car? Sure. Give up your last piece of gum? Of course!

The teachers at Sky High caught on very quickly and Caroline has been on most of their bad lists throughout highschool. Amelia supposed they became bitter towards Caroline after she nuked them with calmness and then manipulated them. "Mr. Starkfast, how about you cancel class today? Doesn't that sound nice?"

Yeah, she couldn't pull that shit anymore or she would wind up in afterschool detention for two weeks. But Amelia thought it was certainly fun while it lasted.

"Nothing." Amelia answered, attempting to sound casual.

Caroline frowned at her and raised an eyebrow as if to say "yeah, right." Luckily, before Caroline could give her the third degree, Libby decided to grace the class with her presence at that very moment. Elizabeth Maherty is Amelia's other best friend, and she has quite a talent of walking through walls. And pretty much every other solid object. She slipped through the back wall and joined Amelia and Caroline at their table, with a big grin plastered to her face.

"Hey, guys." She greeted them in a breezy voice.

"And just where have you been, young lady?" Caroline joked.

Libby started to giggle and Amelia poked her in the ribcage, "Perhaps with a certain weather-controlling boy we all know?" Libby had been dating Brad Tempest, a junior at Sky High, for the past three months.

Caroline demanded, "Were you _kissing_ him, Elizabeth? Were you" She paused to gasp for dramatic effect, "putting your hands down his-"

"Ms. Maherty," Mr. Medulla loudly interrupted their banter, giving Libby one of his "evil" glares. "I had hoped you would realize by now that I am fully aware of your constant late arrivals. Just because you enter through the back wall _does not mean I cannot see you_."

"Mr. Medulla, you're right. I was just making sure your super senses are still up to par. And whaddya know, sharp as ever!" Libby cracked in response.

The other students in the class giggled. Mr. Medulla simply rolled his eyes and turned back to his lesson on the board. Probably, Amelia thought, because the year was almost over and he knew he'd never have to see any of them again. At this point in the semester, it was a miracle that any of the seniors were even showing up.

Libby finally took her seat next to Caroline and Amelia and the three of them started laughing again. Amelia had met Caroline and Libby during her first week at Sky High. They had Hero Preparedness for Beginner's together. It was like an insta-friendship. Libby had cartwheeled through the door and desks and sat right beside Amelia, her blonde hair pulled up in a high pony-tail with a pink ribbon. And then Caroline had breezed into the room. She was wearing the kind of body-hugging maxi dress that Amelia always felt she herself could never pull off. Caroline's hair was the same dark brunette color as Amelia's, but the thick curls it held made Amelia feel that it was so much more beautiful than her own. Caroline announced to the class, "Everyone calm down, I have arrived."

Amelia had been so confused when she realized that she actually _had_ felt calm. Caroline had taken the seat in front of Libby and the rest was history.

The girls stopped giggling when Mr. Medulla announced, "As a reminder, do not forget that your test on the Effects of the Shrink Ray at the Molecular Level is next class."

"Um, yeah." Mark Gibson started to say, "Are you gonna give us any chances at extra credit?"

Mr. Medulla raised his eyebrow in annoyance. He pursed his lips before sighing. "Alright. Since none of you seem to be able to shut up about the Cronus Cup that will be airing a few weeks from now, I will agree to award five points of extra credit, right now, to whomever can tell me who created the Cup and why."

The class broke into chatter and murmurs. "Cronus created it!" Someone called out.

"How insightful of you, Mr. Danfield, but you have failed to tell me _who_ Cronus is and _why _he created it."

Amelia glanced around the room, feeling her cheeks burn. She knew the answer. She knew it very well, actually. She didn't like to advertise her interest in the Cronus Cup, worried that someone may get suspicious as to why she knew so much, _but God knew_ she could use all the extra credit she could get. Slowly, she raised her hand into the air.

"Yes, Ms. Castor?"

Amelia took a deep breath. "Supposedly, the Greek Gods were the first ever superheroes. Ambrose Kent was a superhero who called himself Cronus, named after the Titan God. He created the Cup ninety-three years ago to honor the Greek Gods by having the strongest heroes compete in the week-long tournament every three years."

Mr. Medulla looked pleased. "That's correct, Amelia! And for your knowledge, you will receive five extra credit points on the upcoming test."

Amelia nodded and glanced down at her binder, biting back a smile. Libby gave her a curious look. "When did you learn all that? They don't talk about that in the commercials and stuff, do they?"

Amelia shrugged. "I just remember hearing it."

And that wasn't really a lie. She had heard all that and more from her father when she was twelve. One night while the pair of them had been watching television, a news blip broke out to discuss a big event that had occurred in that year's Cronus Cup. Amelia was still ignorant to the goings on in the superhero world at that point. Her father had been reluctant to explain. "It's a tournament." He had told her. "Only the strongest heroes get to compete. They get assigned a teammate and put into an arena for a week where they have to face any number of unknown dangers."

"You don't like it?" Amelia asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question.

Anthony sighed. "No, Amelia. Before you were born, your mother competed in the Cup."

Amelia could still clearly remember the shock she had felt. "What happened?"

"Each day in the Cup is considered a new round. Your mother made it to the third before she was severely injured and eliminated. She…well, she broke three ribs and punctured a lung. I didn't know if she was going to make it."

"Why did she do it? Didn't she know it was dangerous?"

"Back then, competitors were nominated. She didn't get to choose. Thank God they have applications and entry fees now. It's much harder to get into the Cup than it was before. But it isn't any less dangerous."

To Amelia, the money and fame the Cup offered didn't seem worth the risk. She understood why her father didn't approve of the Cup. He almost lost Angela to that tournament. But Amelia had to admit, the Cronus Cup fascinated her. She couldn't believe how many heroes and powers existed in the world. A small part of her was amazed at her mother's bravery for competing. But she never mentioned that to her father. She remembered watching the Cronus Cup for the first time at Libby's house their freshman year. Her father would probably be very angry if he knew that. And he would probably be _very_ angry if he knew she was planning to watch it this year as well.

For a while, Mr. Medulla let the class discuss what they thought the arena would look like this year, and what type of abilities they thought the winning team would have. He spent the remainder of the class reviewing shrink ray terms.

* * *

That night, Amelia sat in her room with her purple comforter pulled up over her head. She kept sparking forcefields from her fingertips and watching as the white light they created lit up her little, self-made tent. She had the oddest feeling in her chest. Everytime the white light flashed, she imagined the colors red and blue appearing beside them. Lots of things had that patriotic pattern on them; shoes, cups, flags, tank-tops. But she was thinking about a certain set of red, white, and blue bed sheets. And the one time she had lain on those sheets. And the strange series of events that had led up to it.

It began when an explosion was set off in the mad science lab during Amelia's sophomore year. It had been powerful enough to short-circuit every electrically-powered-anything within the school. And that had included the machines Coach Boomer was using to demonstrate a defensive training exercise during gym class.

One of them had some sort of rotating fan that powered it and when it got zapped, the blades went zipping through the air. Some had rocketed into the bleachers and wedged themselves in the wood, others lodged into the dry wall, and two of them crashed straight into Coach Boomer's cart of volleyballs. But one of them went straight for an unsuspecting Will Stronghold. Amelia wasn't sure if he could survive a blow from a two-foot, razor-sharp fan blade. After all, it wasn't like he was made of metal. But Amelia didn't have the time to process any of this. She'd seen the blade shooting toward him and she ran. She shoved him behind her, and apparently he had been extremely startled because he actually _fell over_, and then a burst of white forcefield appeared in front of her. The blade bounced harmlessly off of it and landed on the gym floor. People started to cheer as Will climbed to his feet.

"Thankyou." He said to Amelia and she'd been unable to decipher the tone of his voice. But in his eyes she'd seen that glimpse of the little kid she once knew; the one who was amazed by her.

And then she was crowded by her classmates shouting things like "that was so cool!" and "what the fuck just happened?" and "I didn't know you could do that!"

Oddly enough, a few days later Will was having a pre-Spring Formal party at his house before the dance that Saturday. Libby and Caroline had convinced her to go and it was in full swing when the three of them got there. They found the keg in the kitchen and got themselves beers.

Amelia had already filled Libby and Caroline in on the whole gym debacle the day it happened. They had made stupid comments like "haven't you guys been in love since you were like five?" and "I think saving his life means you guys are basically engaged now." So when Will had walked into the room, they immediately busied themselves and disappeared.

He'd seen Amelia sitting on the counter and walked over to her. "I never really got to thank you for the other day." He had to speak loudly to be heard over the music and the sound of people noisily refilling their solo cups.

Amelia shrugged.

"I mean, really, I had no idea- I didn't see that thing coming. If you hadn't been there, I mean…" His voice trailed off.

"You're welcome." She finally said. And then, realizing he wasn't going anywhere she asked, "So, where are your parents?" The Strongholds Amelia once knew did not seem like the kind of people to allow a party in their house.

"They flew to some island for the night. It's their anniversary." He explained. Will looked at her cup and asked, "Do you want another drink?"

"You know, you don't have to be nice to me just because I saved your life."

Will had looked confused and slightly panicked for a second until he realized that Amelia was only joking. He grinned at her. "Well you might find this hard to believe, but actually it's because I _want_ to be nice to you."

They'd talked about inconsequential things, like whether either of them was going to the Formal the next night. Will said he had to work. Amelia said last year's sucked and she didn't want a repeat. They talked about school and Mr. Medulla and Will's new dog, Glory. Amelia realized quickly that she actually _liked_ talking to Will.

And somehow, the two of them had ending up dancing that night. For a very long time, too. Long enough that when Libby and Caroline finally reappeared, it was to say they were leaving. But Amelia dismissed them and said she'd get home on her own. Both girls waggled their eyebrows at Amelia and gave her teasing grins as they said goodbye.

Granted, Amelia had had a few drinks at that point and was feeling especially good. She hardly noticed as other people came over to say goodnight to Will. When she finally gave it any thought, she realized that she and Will were the only two left at the party.

Will gave the main floor a once over, assessing the levels of mess and damage. He didn't look too worried. And he said he'd just clean it up in the morning.

"I could use some air." Amelia admitted.

Will nodded and lead her to the front door and out onto the porch. She was about to take a seat on the steps when Will scooped her up instead. She yelped with surprise and clung to him as they rose toward the roof. Will held her with such ease that it had made Amelia feel weightless. She was almost disappointed when he set her down.

"Sorry." Will said as they sat on the scratchy tiles. "I didn't mean to manhandle you. But this is my favorite spot."

Amelia stared out at the trees and the tops of other houses in the neighborhood. It may have been a bit cold, but the alcohol was keeping her nice and warm. The pair of them sat in comfortable silence for a moment until Will said, "My parents ask me about you, you know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I told them you were on the Varsity volleyball team and how you won an award for one of your paintings. And that you're the only person Coach Boomer has never yelled at."

Amelia's jaw dropped. "How do you even know all that?"

"I dunno…I notice things about you, I guess…" His voice got quieter with every word. And then he had sat up a little straighter. "Is that okay?"

Amelia studied him for a moment. His brown hair looked like it had recently been cut. One collar of his blue polo shirt was flipped up. He had a devil-may-care attitude about him that Amelia found intriguing. So she asked, "What else have you noticed?"

Will paused before saying, "That you always have a pack of orange Tic Tacs with you. And you have a habit of repeatedly tying pieces of your hair in tiny knots and then undoing them. And you can usually be found eating a poptart on the quad in the morning. And your-"

Apparently, Amelia had heard enough because suddenly she was kissing Will. And Will was kissing her. Amelia was a bit confused as to how that had happened, but she didn't exactly mind. Will's fingers had gotten tangled in her hair and he was pulling her tightly against his chest as his tongue slipped past her lips. Amelia found herself in a frenzy. It was like she couldn't get enough of Will and his hands and his lips. They rolled around on the roof and not long after, they were rolling around on Will's bed. They started losing their clothing until nothing was between them except Amelia's underwear. Will lay beneath her, slowly running his hands up and down her back. Amelia was surprised by how gentle he could be. He wasn't all hard muscle and punches; he was soft skin and caresses, too. Amelia couldn't decide which part of him she liked better.

"Will…" She said, embarrassed by the breathiness of her voice.

He met her gaze and sat up almost immediately. He wound his arms around her waist so that he could shift their positions. He had laid Amelia beneath him on the bed in a gentle way that made her heart feel soft. She tried to push that softness away by pushing her underwear past her hips. And then Will was touching her where she craved him the most and her throat filled with heat and her heart slammed against her chest as she gripped the red, white, and blue sheets around her.

It was too much, but it was not enough, so Amelia pulled Will closer to her. Then there was a shuffling sound as he took out a condom. Amelia felt compelled to say, "I've never done this before."

"Neither have I." Will admitted. They both laughed in an awkward, nervous way.

The laughter stopped as soon as Will pressed himself against Amelia. She winced and clutched onto his shoulders even tighter. At first, with Will inside her, Amelia felt nothing except pain. But she could imagine how it might feel good, how it _would_ feel good. For a while, Will moved slowly and kissed her a lot- on her lips and neck and breasts- until finally she relaxed. Amelia moved her hips up to meet his and gasped at how much better it felt. And the way Will groaned Amelia's name against her skin made every part of her heat up, adding to her newfound pleasure.

Afterwards, Amelia lay there feeling warm and content, tangled up with Will, with his arm draped over her. It must have only taken minutes for her to fall asleep that way.

But those feelings were gone by the time she woke up. She wasn't sure what exactly had replaced them, but she didn't like whatever it was. She sat up and looked at Will, lying on those red, white, and blue sheets of his. She thought about his parents, and his powers, and the heroic life he was bound to lead and she just knew that she had to get out of there.

Will woke while she was putting her clothes on. Somehow, the Beatles t-shirt and ripped jeans Amelia had worn over there looked different than they had the day before.

"Hey." Will greeted her. He watched silently as she hurriedly hiked her jeans up. "Is everything okay…?"

"Um, yeah. I just remembered I told my dad I'd help him in the garden this morning." She hoped her lie sounded smooth. "Didn't want to wake you." Atleast that part had been true.

"Oh." Will climbed out of his bed, wearing only a pair of boxers, and Amelia had to look away, lest she do something stupid like pounce on him.

"I'll uh, I'll take some trash out with me. I just need to-"

"No, no, it's fine." Will had assured her. She was already halfway out the door when he asked, "Hey Amelia, can I call you later?"

Amelia felt her body burn. "Sure. Bye, Will." And then she was gone.

He did call her later. But she hadn't answered. Instead, she'd looked herself over in the mirror. "Mom," She whispered, "I lost my virginity to Will Stronghold. Remember him? Josie and Steve's goofy son? He's not so goofy anymore."

Twenty minutes later, Amelia finally broke down and listened to the message Will had left her. It was something along the lines of, "did she want to go out with him that week?"

She had never called him back.

A month later he had a girlfriend, so Amelia figured it couldn't have mattered too much.

But Amelia thought about those red, white, and blue sheets more often than she cared to admit. And that night, as that strange feeling squeezed her chest, she just couldn't get those sheets out of her head.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everybody I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! Or is about to have a great weekend, if you're in a different time zone. I've been in lots of time zones and they still don't make any sense to me.

And in reply to **cha Cha**: No, Will and Layla hadn't dated in this story. She's dating someone else. Which brings me to your next question… Yes, there will be appearances from Warren. He's a sort of not-upfront but still major character in a way. You'll find out in this Chapter Thanks for asking!

And now, onward!

Love,

Sarah

* * *

The day Amelia's life was thrown into chaos started off like any other Friday. She woke up late, as usual, and had to take a record-fast shower.

Her father was sitting at the kitchen table with the TV on when she came downstairs. But instead of the morning news, he was watching a different program that day. Amelia heard a familiar sound; the three, deep bangs of a gong that signaled the Cronus Cup. She had heard that sound on the radio and TV many times in the past couple weeks. It always played whenever a Cronus Cup ad or news reel was aired.

"They're announcing the competitors today." Anthony said in an offhand way. The Competitor Selection appeared to be the only part of the Cup that her father actually watched. He would always make comments like, "Oh she is just too young" and "Why do they let such tiny people in?" and shake his head disapprovingly. Amelia always wondered what exactly he was looking for in those selections, because he never watched any part of the actual tournament. Amelia couldn't make much sense of that, but she didn't say so.

"Oh yeah?" She did her best to sound uninterested.

The Selection was Amelia's favorite part- when she got to see every competitor and find out their ability. They always listed the ability as a vague, one or two word phrase that Amelia had fun trying to decipher. Last year, one said "metamorph" and Amelia assumed that meant they could shape shift. But instead, they were able to mimic any superbeing's power, as long as that person was within a hundred or so feet. Amelia briefly wondered what kind of powers would be present in that year's Cup.

"Gotta go, dad. Love you." She said as she ran out of the room to catch the Sky High bus.

She ate her poptarts on the quad while Libby danced around her. She and Caroline ignored Professor Altwell during their Accelerated Emergency Medical Technician course and painted their nails instead. It was a typical Friday.

It wasn't until the last block of the day that the impossible happened. Amelia sat with Caroline and Libby at their round table by the window, trying not to fall asleep while Mr. Starkfast babbled on about firearm safety. Amelia could hear Will Stronghold and Layla Williams whispering at the table diagonal from her. She was doing her best to not eavesdrop. And to not look at Will.

That was when Alicia Martin said, "Mr. Starkfast! The Competitor Selection is on live right now! Can we watch it? Please?!"

Mr. Starkfast hiked his glasses further up his nose. "Why can't you just watch the rerun later?"

"Oh, come on!" Mary Ripple chimed in. "Where's the fun in that?"

And then the entire class was chanting "Let us watch! Let us watch!" and so finally Mr. Starkfast had to give in. He looked as if he'd just been roughed up in a street fight when he lowered the TV screen and switched it on.

Amelia heard the gong and she waited anxiously for the program to start. The announcers appeared on the screen, giving a brief intro to and summary of the Cup. Then they showed the winning scene from the tournament three years ago. Amelia remembered it well.

The Cup was won when both members of a team reached and captured the Gold Flag during the seventh round. There was always some sort of guard in place, designed to protect the Flag no matter who was trying to reach it. It was like the Flag's barrier could adapt to whatever power was being used against it. During the previous Cup, the winners broke down the barrier by combining their powers. But that was not always possible. Sometimes, one of the team members would be eliminated early on, whether it be from breaking a rule or the incapacity to continue on, (which Amelia thought was just a fancy way of saying 'about to die') and the second member would have to carry on alone. But no matter the state of either competitor, unless one was eliminated, both of them had to touch the Flag in order to win. It complicated things when one of them had broken limbs or was poisoned or paralyzed.

"This year's Cup is going to be extra-special!" Jason Twotone cheered on screen. "There's a new tournament designer calling the shots and we've heard rumor that there are going to be never before seen challenges in the arena! We're certainly excited to see what they are!"

"You're seeing it here first, folks. The applications have been collected, the tournament designers have studied them with vigor, and the competitors have been selected! Are. You. Ready?" The second commentator asked, pausing on every word in the dramatic way only a TV personality could pull off.

Libby glanced over at Amelia and grinned.

There was a pause before Jason Twotone spoke again. Amelia could hear the breath of other students in the room- that was how quiet it got. "The first half of Team One is… Marcus Volt!" A picture flashed on the screen, showing a blonde man with broad shoulders. His stat card appeared beside him. Age: 26. Ability: Lightning. "But we bet all his fans out there know him as Zeus!"

Amelia didn't need to decipher Marcus' ability. The name pretty much spoke for itself. "Team One's female competitor is… Alexis Freeze!" Alexis was a stunning girl with white-blonde hair. Age: 24. Ability: Ice.

Amelia watched, enamored, as more teams and abilities were announced. Nora Switch could turn invisible. She was paired with a guy whose ability simply said "paralysis." There was a girl who called herself "Twister" and Amelia had one guess as to what that meant.

And then Jason Twotone got to Team Four. "The male competitor is… Warren Peace!" Amelia knew that name. His stat card flashed. Age: 21. Ability: Flames. The class started to cheer. Warren had attended Sky High before he graduated two years ago when Amelia was a sophomore. Amelia remembered seeing him around school with Will. And she had been partnered with him for some project she couldn't quite recall, back when she was a freshman. She felt a surge of pride.

Then, Will shouted, "Yes! Hell yes! Way to go, Warren!" Apparently the two of them had remained friends.

The excitement died down just enough for Amelia to hear the names of the Fifth Team. Patrick Grizzly and Hazel McKinney, a shape shifter and a size shifter. Amelia wondered what kind of team they would make. She hadn't heard or seen who Warren's teammate was.

"And for our sixth and final team, the male competitor is… William Stronghold!"

The class absolutely shrieked.

Amelia's head pounded from all the noise and her own confusion. It only lasted a moment until Caroline stood up and screamed, "CALM THE FUCK DOWN." And everyone did.

Which was just in time to hear Jason Twotone say, "female competitor… Amelia Castor!"

Amelia didn't know if there were screams then. She couldn't hear anything except a strange buzzing in her ears. Her mouth went dry.

Had she heard that correctly?

No.

No way.

There had to have been a mistake.

But sure enough, when she glanced up at the screen, her picture was being shown. Her senior school picture to be exact. And then her stat card appeared. Age: 18. Ability: Forcefield.

She absolutely could not believe it.

And then people were surrounding her, speaking at her, but she had no idea what they were saying. She felt hysterical. Was this some kind of joke?! She hadn't even applied! How could she possibly be a competitor in the Cronus Cup?!

And, of all people, teamed with…

She looked up and met Will's gaze. He looked almost as freaked out as she felt.

She got to her feet. She felt like the world had slowed to an abnormal pace and she could hear blood rushing in her ears. She had to go, she had to…

She fought toward the classroom door, pushing people out of her way. And she was halfway down the hall when she heard a single voice yell her name. She spun around and found herself face to face with Will Stronghold. Suddenly, her disorientation turned to rage.

"What did you do?!" She demanded.

"Amelia, I have no-"

"I didn't want this! I don't want your stupid hero life! I don't know what the hell you did but_ good luck dying alone in that arena_!"

Will looked like she'd just struck him. And granted, she didn't feel all that great about acting like an angry lunatic. Still, Will tried again, "I swear I don't-"

But students started swarming the hallways then, yelling and cheering and congratulating. Amelia could feel the hysteria rising up in her throat, threatening to spill out, and she took off toward the front doors.

* * *

Thankfully, nobody followed her.

She took a seat against an old oak tree in the courtyard, facing away from the school. She wanted to open her eyes and realize this was just a dream. She wanted someone to jump out and say "gotcha!" She wanted the final bell to ring so she could get out of there and hide in her bedroom under her purple covers. But her heart froze when she imagined going home to her father. Surely, he had seen the Competitor Selection. He had seen her name and her face plastered all over the TV for _the world_ to see. She imagined the disappointed, worried look he'd have on his face. She hugged her knees to her chest.

_Calm down_, she told herself. _Channel your inner Caroline_. And then she wondered what Caroline and Libby were possibly thinking right then and she started to panic again.

But it had to be a mistake. The tournament people must have gotten her mixed up with someone else. Or maybe someone sent her name in as a joke and didn't think anything would really come out of it. Yeah…That was it. It was all just a big mistake. Her father would have to understand. She would call the Cup people and sort out the problem. Everything would be fine. There was a way to fix this and she would figure it out and everything would be fine.

She repeated this in her head until she started to relax. She sort of wished she hadn't freaked out in front of the entire class. She was pretty sure that she'd elbowed Troy Massimo in the ribs while she was trying to get out of Mr. Starkfast's classroom. They all probably thought she was insane by now.

It was only ten minutes until the final bell. Amelia kept taking deep, slow breaths to keep herself calm.

It took her a moment to realize that Coach Boomer was standing over her.

"Hello, Amelia." He greeted. She was always shocked when Boomer spoke in a normal, non-threatening voice.

"Hi, coach." She said. But she _really_ was not in the mood for small talk.

Boomer cleared his throat. "I'm sure you're aware that your mother competed in the Cronus Cup once."

"I am." She squeaked.

Boomer looked around awkwardly for a moment, like maybe he wanted to flee. But he finally spoke again. "She would have won, you know. She would have. But her teammate double crossed her. Tried to help another team win so he could split the prize money with them. If he hadn't been so stupid, he would've actually won that money with Angela at his side. The three of them ended up losing to another team."

Amelia stared up at Boomer in amazement. Her father had left all of that out when he told her about the Cup. That seemed important to her. All that time, she'd been thinking her mother hadn't been strong enough to survive the Cronus Cup. She was wrong.

"You look just like her, you know. Like Angie." Boomer cleared his throat again and walked away.

Amelia was floored. Coach Boomer had just, to the best of his ability, told Amelia that she was strong enough to compete in the Cronus Cup, just like her mother had been. And, inadvertently, he had just revealed to Amelia why she was the one student he had never yelled at.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello everyone!

I hope you're still reading/enjoying this story. Or maybe you hate it! That's fine, too. Thanks for reading all the same.

Much love,

Sarah

* * *

Amelia tried to be polite on the bus ride home. She said, "I'm still in shock, can you ask me on Monday?" a good twenty times before finally just ignoring the other students altogether.

Her heart was beating in her throat by the time she arrived at her house. She saw her father's silver Honda in the driveway. Anthony usually didn't get home before her, but given the circumstances…

She stood on the porch and stared at the blue door for a long moment. She finally took a deep breath and braced herself as she turned the knob. She had practiced a speech to give her father on her bus ride home, but as soon as she saw him standing in the kitchen, that speech completely left her head.

"Dad…" She said cautiously.

Anthony turned around slowly. Amelia could see her own face on the television screen behind him, beneath the Cronus Cup scythe logo. She shuddered.

"Why would you do this, Amelia?" He spoke in a calm voice that made her worry increased ten-fold.

She shook her head. "I didn't! Dad, I don't know what-"

"Are you worried about money?" He paused for a half second. "Is this about your mother? Are you trying to get my attention? Because you've got it."

Amelia was trying to remember her speech, trying to make the right words come together when the doorbell rang.

Anthony looked wearily at the foyer and Amelia knew that whoever was there had come to see _her._ Anthony followed as she crossed the hard wood floors and pulled the door open.

Two men stood on her porch. One of them was tall, with a deep tan, and the other was rather stout. They both wore black suits. Anthony placed a palm on Amelia's shoulder, as if he thought they had come to take her away right then and was ready to pull her back inside the house.

The man with dark skin spoke first. "Ms. Castor, congratulations on your placement in this year's Cronus Cup. We have a few things to-"

Amelia sighed. "Thank God. Look, there's been a mistake. I didn't apply for the Cup. I don't even know how you got my information."

The men didn't seem fazed by her confession at all. The second of the two popped open his briefcase and slid a file out of it. Amelia saw her senior photo paper-clipped to the front of it. "Ms. Castor," The man flipped through the pages of her file and held it up to her face, "is this not your signature?"

Amelia stared at the page. There at the bottom, printed with ink in her bubbly cursive writing, was her signature.

She started to grow hysterical again, "Yes, but I didn't-!"

Once again, they didn't let her argue. The first man held his palm up. "Ms. Castor, we realize that sometimes competitors get cold feet. But this is a legal and binding contract that you've signed. As stated in the fine print of your application, you are legally obligated to compete in the Cup."

Amelia could feel a panic attack coming on. This was real. She was going to participate in the Cronus Cup.

The two men started talking again and handed her papers. Things like a schedule, and rulebooks, and other bullshit that Amelia had no interest in. There was information about cameras and crew teams and interviews and Amelia felt like her head was exploding.

When the men were finally gone, Anthony asked, "Why, Amelia?"

Apparently he hadn't believed her pleas of "I didn't do it!"

Amelia was too exhausted. She was too confused and too distressed. She said, "I don't know, dad." And then she stumbled up the stairs to her bedroom for a good cry.

* * *

After crying out her initial frustration, Amelia simply lay in bed staring at her ceiling. Her purple blanket was pulled up to her chin. She couldn't make sense of the last few hours. Someone had forged her signature and gotten her into the Cronus Cup. Or maybe the designers just knew it would help the ratings to see Psionica's daughter fight in the tournament. And now there was no way to get out of it. Amelia could break her leg or get pneumonia, but unless she was dead, she was going to be in that arena. The stupid fine print had basically said so.

She wondered what Will was doing right then. Was he celebrating with his family? Will was just the kind of person who would want to be in the Cronus Cup, to have all of that attention on him. Amelia would bet that he never thought he'd be stuck with her as his partner.

She was feeling sulky when Libby suddenly came bouncing through her bedroom wall.

"Jesus!" Amelia clutched her chest, making sure her heart hadn't leaped out of it.

Then her bedroom door swung open and Caroline stood in the entry way. "Oh, Mia." She sighed, feeling the despair in the room. Both girls crawled on the bed and wrapped their arms around Amelia.

After a long moment, Amelia asked, "You guys don't really think that I applied for the Cronus Cup, do you?"

"Well, we did at first." Caroline admitted.

Libby nodded. "Yeah and we were kinda super pissed that you didn't tell us. But then, after you left class, Will came back and dragged us into the next room. You know how Mrs. Fortgate is preggo so her room's always empty? Well, Will got all weird and serious. He swears that he didn't apply for the Cup. And he said that you, like, had a fit and basically told him that you didn't apply, either."

"So we started thinking," Caroline interjected, "and Amelia, to get into the Cup you have to send in a _lot _of personal information. We're talking about medical record type documents. And a signed contract."

Amelia stared at the pair of them, not exactly comprehending what they were getting at. "And?"

"And who the hell could get all of that?! For you _and_ Will? It's too crazy! So we're thinking, obviously, that someone else did it for you guys. But, you know…why?" Libby raised her eyebrows.

"We can't figure out why someone would go through all the trouble." Caroline said.

Libby shrugged. "Well, like, unless they wanted to kill you."

Amelia frowned.

Caroline sighed. "Our point is that we don't think you should compete. Get a lawyer and get out of it."

Amelia nearly laughed. "I can't. We don't have money for a lawyer. And as far as the Cup people are concerned, Amelia Castor signed that contract and Amelia Castor is competing in the Cup."

"You talked to them already?" Caroline questioned.

"They showed up here. They gave me all this shit." She pushed her pile of papers forward for them to see.

Caroline looked stunned after reading over one of the documents. "You and Will are going to be the youngest Cup competitors in over fifty years." And then she seemed to have a realization. "You know, maybe that's why you got entered. The children of the most world-famous superheroes competing together."

Amelia did not feel any better. She did not want to see any more accounts of her mother's life on television. She didn't want to hear people talking about Psionica. Her throat felt tight. "What am I supposed to do, Car? I don't even know how to use my powers!"

Libby tilted her head. She always did that before she was about to say something serious. "Amelia. We know you don't like to talk about it, but if you're even as half as powerful as your mother, you're gonna win that fucking Cup."

Amelia's jaw clenched and she shook her head. She didn't want to win. She didn't want to be part of it at all. She just wanted to watch from the sidelines at a safe distance, like she had her whole life.

Caroline nodded. "Not to mention, you aced every single combat course we ever took. You could probably win without your power."

"You're not weak, Amelia." Libby concluded.

"And suppose whoever entered me _does_ want me dead?" Amelia crossed her arms over her chest.

Libby and Caroline glanced at one another. Caroline unzipped her book bag and pulled out what looked like a gun. Written on the side of it were the words: Property of Mr. Medulla. **THIS IS NOT A TOY**.

The brunette said, "Well, that's why your training starts right now."

* * *

The following afternoon, Amelia stood on the Stronghold porch. It had taken her almost ten minutes to work up the courage to ring their doorbell. And now that she had, there was no going back.

There was a brief pause before the door swung open. Josie stood in the foyer, her eyes wide. "Amelia! Oh, Amelia, hi! Look at you. Wow." She shook her head with disbelief and Amelia felt a crushing guilt. Why hadn't she come to see these people? Why had she stayed away? It had been a few years since Amelia had even spoken to them. Josie and Steve had been so kind to her when she was little, like a second family. Amelia always acted like they were the busy ones, when really; she'd been avoiding them all that time.

Amelia was ashamed to be standing there now. "Hi, Mrs. Stronghold."

Josie smiled in a disbelieving way again. "Oh! Come in, come in, please." Josie led Amelia into the living room. Everything was just as Amelia remembered it. "Steve! Steve, honey, look who's here."

Steve Stronghold was standing at the kitchen island when Amelia and Josie walked into the room. His brow furrowed for a second, as if he had no idea who was there. But he quickly broke into a grin. "Amelia! Wh-hoa. Great to see your face! It's been a while. How are you?"

Amelia smiled. "I'm…alright. How's the realty business? I heard the housing market was starting to pick up again."

They made small talk for a while, discussing the house market value and Amelia's graduation plans. But Amelia could feel the elephant in the room almost like it was sitting on top of them- she and Will were going to be thrown into the Cronus Cup arena in three weeks. Knowing now that Will hadn't applied either, she wondered again what had taken place between the three of them last night. Josie and Steve were smiling warmly at her, but Amelia could sense the tension. Perhaps they were worried for their son, and maybe worried for her as well.

Josie said, "Are you hungry, Amelia? I'll make you macaroni salad. Will's upstairs. Why don't you go on up? Let him know lunch will be ready soon."

Mrs. Stronghold's macaroni salad was always Amelia's favorite. Amelia felt a little dizzy as she climbed the stairs up to Will's room. She lingered over the family pictures on the wall and looked briefly at Will's senior picture.

His bedroom door was half open when Amelia reached it. Will was standing next to his bed, with his phone in his hand. Amelia heard him say, "Warren, I can explain, man. Call me when you get this." Will dropped his phone on the bed and ran a hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh.

Amelia paused by the door. She felt she'd just witnessed something a little too personal for her liking. But she gently knocked on the white wood anyway.

Will looked alarmed when he saw her.

"Uh…hey." Amelia fidgeted. In all honestly, Amelia wasn't sure why she'd gone over there in the first place. Maybe she secretly hoped that Will had figured some way out of the Cup. Or that he would have a better plan than she did. Which was no plan at all.

"Hey." Will echoed.

"I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I was just a little… surprised." Amelia glanced around Will's room. His desk was covered in papers that looked suspiciously like the ones she'd received from the Cup officials the day before.

Will shrugged. "It's alright."

"Libby told me that you didn't apply for the Cup, either."

"I didn't." He looked stressed. "I guess that doesn't matter much, does it? We're going to be competing anyway."

Amelia chewed the inside of her cheek. "Caroline thinks the tournament designers did it. Because, you know, you're the son of The Commander and Jetstream and I'm the daughter of…"

Will looked at her thoughtfully. "That could be it."

"My dad doesn't believe me. He thinks I entered." Amelia admitted.

"Well, that's probably best." Will said. Amelia's face crinkled in annoyance and she was about to ask how that could possibly be best, but Will beat her with the answer. "I mean, if he knew you were somehow forced into competing, wouldn't that worry him more?"

Amelia hadn't really thought of it that way. But she knew he was right. "What did you tell your parents?"

"That Warren and I had applied together."

Amelia had a strange feeling, like she'd been left out of a lot of important scenes in her own life. Josie and Steve knew that Will was friends with Barren Battle's son. And apparently they had no problem with it. Amelia saw some significance in that. She wasn't sure why.

But she did know that Warren and Will had definitely _not _applied together, considering the one-sided phone call she'd overheard just moments before. Amelia wondered about that, but she figured she had no right to ask.

"So I guess…that's that, then." Amelia said. By "that" she meant that the two of them were about to be facing superhero level dangers in an arena with ten other competitors who all had years more experience than they had. And there was nothing they could do about it.

"I guess so."

Amelia wasn't sure what else to say. So she went with, "Your mom says lunch is almost ready." And then she turned around and left Will's bedroom, but not before seeing the edge of red, white, and blue bed sheets peeking out from beneath his comforter.

"You want some macaroni salad, sweetheart?" Josie asked when Amelia reappeared in the kitchen. And Amelia did, she wanted macaroni salad and she wanted to stay and listen to Josie and Steve's warm voices a while longer. But she felt like the guilt inside her had manifested into a fist that had taken hold of her throat. She needed to go somewhere else, anywhere else, where she could breathe.

"I wish I could stay, Mrs. Stronghold, but I promised my father I'd help him in the garden this afternoon." Amelia lied.

Steve nodded. "Well, that's alright. Would you let Anthony know we said hello and give him our best?"

"I will, Mr. Stronghold. Thankyou again." Amelia smiled politely and turned toward the door. That was when she spotted Will standing at the bottom of the stairs, just a few feet away from her. The look he was giving her made her absolutely certain that he'd heard and recognized the lie she'd just told his parents.

The fist around her neck tightened its grip and she bolted out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey, all!

Just a short, filler chapter before the Cronus Cup begins :)

But since it's so short, I have decided to include a very brief snippet from one of the chapter's to come. I'll put it at the bottom. I guess you can consider it like a preview. Hehe.

Enjoy!

Much love,

Sarah

* * *

Amelia would've never guessed that she'd have spent her last few weeks as a highschooler training for the Cronus Cup. She had been exhausted and sore and stressed out nearly 24/7. All of the students at the school kept congratulating her and asking a million different questions about the Cup and her power and the arena. Amelia had become even more exhausted from trying to pretend that she wasn't scared and confused all the time.

Everyone else was so excited and looking forward to the future. Their day had come; they had all made it to graduation. It was time to celebrate.

But Amelia wouldn't be celebrating. Instead of going to graduation party cookouts and bonfires, in three days she'd be in the Cronus Cup training compound waiting to be thrown into the arena.

This didn't seem to dawn on anyone else. There was a "good luck" banner hanging in the cafeteria for people to sign. And while Amelia was grateful for the support, the whole thing just gave her a pounding headache.

Libby and Caroline had kept borrowing Mr. Medulla's different ray and beam guns to help Amelia with her training. Amelia had started wishing that she'd actually participated in the games and exercises in gym class. Maybe then she wouldn't have spent her evenings being turned into a popsicle or shrunken to the size of a squirrel.

The previous Saturday, Libby had made Amelia practice her forcefields by throwing kitchen knives at her. Amelia was not at all enthusiastic about that idea, but it worked. She had blocked every knife, creating a series of forcefields faster than she'd known she was able to.

Amelia was happy to have help, but she knew it wouldn't be enough. The other competitors had years more experience than she did. Amelia had recently read up on Marcus Volt. He looked so oddly familiar to her and she couldn't remember where she'd seen him before. But she learned in her research that the electricity from his lightning was strong enough to short circuit every light bulb in a town. He'd been training for the Cup for the last _seven years_ and Amelia would be worried enough if he was the _only_ person she had to face in the arena.

Add in the other nine and she figured she was screwed.

Will was much better off than she was. He'd been working with his powers for the last two years. And during that time, he'd gotten even stronger. Apparently, his super strength had increased to the point where he was nearly indestructible. Atleast, that's what Amelia had heard. It's not like she had paid close attention to him during gym class or watched him every time he played Save the Citizen or eavesdropped on his conversations or anything.

But there would be things out there that even someone as strong as Will would have trouble facing.

It wasn't helping Amelia's stress levels that her father hardly spoke to her. They ate dinner in silence every night. Anthony never turned on the TV, lest a Cronus Cup commercial come on. The house had become unbearably quiet and Amelia had no idea how to fix it.

Not to mention, Amelia and Will were equally as awkward around eachother. They were forced to interact on occasion when their classmates grilled them with questions, but mostly they just kept their distance from one another. Amelia wondered how the hell they were gonna survive the arena if they couldn't even speak to eachother. She bet that the other teams were forming bonds and strategies right now. It was just another way that Amelia was set at a disadvantage for the Cup. And another thing that she didn't know how to fix.

The Cup officials had arranged for Will and Amelia to give a speech together at their graduation that night. Amelia could already imagine how awkward and stiff they would appear beside eachother. The competition would see right through their feigned friendship and exploit that weakness. Things just kept looking bleaker and bleaker.

Amelia kept reminding herself that it would all be over in a couple weeks. Whether or not she would come out of it emotionally or physically damaged was what worried her. Or, you know, if she would come out of it _alive_. That, and all the "heroic" attention she would be getting. She just wanted to be left alone. She had finally made it to the end of highschool. She was about to be free from the super hero world for good. And now that opportunity was gone. People would talk about her and the stupid Cup and her mother and Will and everything for the next few years, if not longer.

It all made her headache even worse.

Amelia stood in front of the full-length mirror hanging on her closet door. She had her blue graduation gown draped over a floral sundress. She held the tasseled cap in her hand. She thought that this day would have felt different. More dramatic, maybe, considering how long she and her classmates had spent waiting for it to come. But it felt relatively normal. All of the seniors had been attending graduation practices for a little over two weeks, so atleast Amelia had a good idea of what was expected of her. There was less room for error that way. Or so she hoped.

Amelia reached in her closet to find her sandals and she spotted a black wardrobe bag hanging on the very last hook, as far in the corner as it could possibly be. She pressed forward, until she had the bag in her hands. She slowly slid the zipper down, revealing the purple and orange fabric of the suit it contained. Psionica's suit.

Amelia's heart squeezed in her chest.

She slid the suit off of its hanger and pulled it out to study. She held it up in front of her and looked in the mirror. Coach Boomer was right. Amelia looked just like Angela.

Amelia saw the purple fabric of her comforter in the mirror's reflection and something occurred to her. She had always thought it was a little lame how Will always wore red, white, and blue. But it was then that she realized that she had quite a collection of orange and purple items. An orange bracelet, a purple bra, an orange binder. It had been completely subconscious of her to always choose those colors. Maybe she wasn't as upfront about it as Will was, but it was clearly there. It was just a small way for them to silently always be supporting their parents.

Amelia held the suit away from her and stared at it. "I don't know if I can do this, mom. I'm not like you. I'm not strong enough for this life." She whispered.

Amelia knew her father was downstairs, waiting to take her to Sky High for the ceremony. And she knew all the cameras would be on them for the night. It was time for her to put on her brave face and her best fake smile.

She hung her mother's suit back up in the garment bag and closed her closet door tight.

* * *

**And now, for your preview: **

_Amelia felt a searing pain in her left arm, like all of her nerve endings were being stripped away. And before she could turn, something had thrown her through the air. She landed on the hard ground side-first and the air was snatched from her lungs. _

_She looked up at her robot, which was now a few dozen feet away, thinking it had thrown her. But she saw Warren Peace standing in front of it, his arms lit with flames. She looked at her searing upper arm, where she found a ragged, handprint shaped burn. _

_Amelia was almost positive that Warren Peace had just saved her life. _


End file.
